Teacher Finds Gun In Boy's Bag

June 8, 2001|By Andreas Tzortzis and Toni Marshall Staff Writers

Olsen Middle School students got a scare Thursday after a sixth-grader was arrested for bringing a loaded gun to school to protect himself from another student he said was harassing him over PokM-imon cards, according to detectives.

Math teacher Meredith Abramson said she noticed the 12-year-old acting suspiciously when he walked into class at the Dania Beach school Thursday morning, according to Broward Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Veda Coleman-Wright.

Following a daily routine, she asked students to remove their backpacks; he didn't comply.

She noticed him fidgeting, approached him and looked inside the bag. She saw what looked like a gun handle, asked for the backpack and alerted security. They found the .25-caliber semi-automatic handgun.

The boy was arrested on felony charges of possession of a firearm on school campus and carrying a concealed firearm. He is being held at the Broward County Juvenile Detention Center.

The Sun-Sentinel is withholding the student's name because of his age.

Broward school officials said he was immediately suspended and faces an expulsion hearing. Because of the school district's zero-tolerance policy, he most likely will be expelled from his school, said the same officials.

South Florida schools are clamping down on weapons violations, fearing a repeat of last year's Palm Beach County shooting, when Nathaniel Brazill, then 13, shot and killed teacher Barry Grunow on the last day of school.

"Kids are under a lot of stress. What concerns me is how he [the Olsen student] got access to a gun," said Joe Melita, Broward Schools' chief of investigations. He said he has taken two guns, one of them loaded, from students during his teaching career, which included jobs as a coach and principal.

Calling the Olsen incident scary, he said most items confiscated in Broward this school year were box cutters, toy guns, cap guns and water pistols. He couldn't recall any other incidents involving loaded firearms this year. Melita said his office is working with the Broward Sheriff's Office to find out where the student got the weapon.

Classes were not disrupted at the Dania middle school, but parents called in frantically inquiring about the incident, according to a school secretary.

"There was no lockdown. The student was removed from class and placed in BSO custody," said Nadine Drew, Broward Schools spokeswoman.

She continued: "There were no known threats of any sort. He didn't show off the gun, nor did he threaten to use it."

The student, described as having a discipline problem, put up no resistance when his teacher searched his backpack, Drew said. Classmates described him as troubled.

School officials said the boy sits in the front of the class so the teacher can keep an eye on him because he is disruptive.

School volunteer Patty Schwartz said she was saddened to find out the student was someone she tutored in reading.

"He's moving to his dad's in another state," she noted.

Security officers and Sheriff's Office detectives spent most of the day interviewing the boy, who initially told them he brought the gun for protection against a boy whose PokM-imon cards he borrowed, said Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Veda Coleman-Wright.

When detectives interviewed the other student, he said he had let the boy borrow the cards but never threatened him with violence if he didn't give them back.